ESPN's "Greatest Game Ever Played" Documentary Debuts Saturday

ESPN's Documentary Of Colts-Giants '58 NFL  Championship Game Well-Received By Critics

ESPN's documentary "The Greatest Game Ever Played," which chronicles the Colts-Giants '58 NFL Championship game, debuts Saturday night at 9:00pm ET, and it "provides a digitally restored, lightly colorized version of the game itself, making it seem more tangible and less like a historic relic," according to Neil Best of NEWSDAY. ESPN Senior Coordinating Producer John Dahl, who produced the documentary, said, "It was important to me that it look authentic, but I didn't want an artificial look to it. I believe it looks truly like it was shot in color in 1958." Best noted that includes the "obvious, such as the dusty, grass-free Yankee Stadium field, and the subtle, such as the red numbers on the officials' uniforms." Dahl said that a "crucial resource was Sport magazine, the only publication to shoot the game in color." Dahl was inspired to colorize the game after watching the "special produced last year by Jim Nantz in which Legend Films meticulously colorized the 1960 Masters." Legend also worked on this project (NEWSDAY, 12/9).

THUMBS UP: In DC, Leonard Shapiro wrote the film is "goose-bump inducing," and both "casual fans and fanatical followers of professional football would be wise to do themselves a favor and set aside two hours" Saturday night to watch it. The production of the film "opens with a stand-up introduction on the Yankee Stadium field delivered by properly toned down and pleasantly reverential Chris Berman, providing context at the start and then again at the finish." The film also "includes newly colorized game film, as well as angles from about 30 plays in the contest that had never before been seen by the public." NBC aired the game nationally in '58, but the "archived copy of the broadcast somehow had gone missing over the ensuing 50 years." Shapiro noted Dahl "managed to fill in the gaps with the raw game footage he had discovered" in '98 while interviewing Colts head coach Weeb Ewbank for another ESPN documentary (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 12/9). In Illinois, Ted Cox writes under the header, "ESPN's 'Greatest Game' Lives Up To Title." The documentary is a "program with a purpose and with a gimmick that works." It does a "marvelous job of putting together a coherent, cohesive sustained series of highlights from various sources to tell the story of the game from start to finish" (Illinois DAILY HERALD, 12/12). In California, Jim Carlisle writes the "best idea [Dahl] had was to have members of the 1958 Colts and Giants sit down and watch the game with members of the modern-day Colts and Giants" (VENTURA COUNTY STAR, 12/12). In L.A., Tom Hoffarth writes the game is "upgraded and colorized in a way that enhances the experience rather than detracts" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 12/12). In N.Y., David Hinckley gives the film four out of five stars and writes the producers "scrounged up almost all the footage, a major feat, and what wasn't in color they have colorized, nonintrusively" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 12/12). In West Palm Beach, Dave George notes there are "some impressive bonus features" included in the film (PALM BEACH POST, 12/12).

MIXED REVIEWS: In Houston, David Barron writes ESPN had the game colorized "based on the apparent belief that we're too shallow to watch black and white football." But Barron notes the film mixes players from the '58 season with current NFL figures "for conversations about the game," which is a "more successful contribution to the lore of the game" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 12/12). In Cleveland, Bill Livingston writes ESPN's decision to colorize the game is a "strange choice" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 12/12).

Interviews With Frank Gifford, Gino Marchetti, Tom Coughlin (l to r) Featured In Film

ESPN BEING ESPN: In Utah, Scott Pierce writes the film is "great viewing for NFL fans," and it is "more than just a recounting" of the game. There are also "interviews with people who were there -- players, journalists and fans." But Pierce notes the "only real flaw is the self-congratulatory nature of the opening segment, in which ESPN does what ESPN always does -- pats itself on the back for how great it is" (DESERET NEWS, 12/12). In San Jose, John Ryan: "ESPN goes overboard with the self-promotion again, but other that that, 'The Greatest Game Ever Played' ... is worth a look" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 12/12).

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT: ESPN's Jay Crawford in an interview with Legend Films Founder & President Barry Sandrew asked of the film's production, including whether the colorization process is "literally done frame by frame and how do you get the colors exact?" Sandrew: "Frame by frame, 90,000 frames. We got some very good footage from the Ewbank coach film, and ESPN gave us a lot of color references." Legend also reviewed books about the game including Mark Bowden's "The Best Game Ever," and Sandrew said, "We know that they spread mulch with manure the day before on the field so it definitely was brown." He added it typically takes "about six weeks to colorize a film. ... This took us three months" ("ESPN First Take," ESPN2, 12/9). Sandrew added that colorizing "such ancient events had plenty of potential." Sandrew: "We'd like to go further. We've invented a process where anything shot in 2-D can be converted to 3-D" (USA TODAY, 12/12).